Is This Elevator Going Up?

I went out to play on the internet, in search of a good definition of the word "suspense" (but as it relates to movies and screenwriting), and landed at the Playwriting Seminars series of excellent articles on various aspects of writing stage plays. They have a special section just to help playwrights get their little toes wet with writing screenplays. And so I follow the link to their subsection on "suspense plots" which, in turn, led me to their page on "Elevator Plays." I knew about the device, but hadn't seen it explained in quite the entertaining way as it is done here on the "Elevator Plays" page. Kind of a fun read. It was also a bit amusing to see the basics of screenwriting so easily explained away on that particular page. I did find this quote on the "Suspense Plots" page: 'The MacGuffin, a term used by Alfred Hitchcock, refers to that element . . . that is a mere pretext for a plot. The MacGuffin might be the papers the spies are after, the secret theft of a ring, any device or gimmick that gets the plot rolling, The plot, moreover, is simply a pretext for an exploration of character. The MacGuffin itself has little, if any, intrinsic meaning. The MacGuffin, said Hitchcock, is nothing.' -- Lorrie Moore